Systems and methods for underbody inspection of a moving vehicle with a smartphone

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods that allow a smartphone to be used as an imaging device for undercarriage inspection of a moving vehicle are provided. The method may include locating the smartphone on the ground via one or more sensors of the vehicle. The vehicle may generate a path for the vehicle to drive over the smartphone based on the location of the smartphone, and optionally display the path to facilitate manual driving of the vehicle by the driver over the smartphone. Alternatively, the vehicle may self-drive to follow the path. The smartphone may capture image data indicative of the undercarriage of the vehicle, inspect and analyze the image data to identify one or more issues of the undercarriage of the vehicle, and transmit the analyzed image data to the vehicle for display. The driver may confirm the one or more issues and transmit the data to an inspection professional for additional assistance if needed.

BACKGROUND

Inspecting a vehicle's undercarriage onsite, e.g., at the customer'sdriveway, is a major challenge as the vehicle cannot easily orefficiently be lifted as it would be in a repair shop. Whilecamera-based inspection technologies have been developed, there is alack of commercially-available, cost-effective tools and systems forundercarriage self-inspections. It is with respect to these and otherconsiderations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The use of the same reference numerals may indicate similar oridentical items. Various embodiments may utilize elements and/orcomponents other than those illustrated in the drawings, and someelements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments.Elements and/or components in the figures are not necessarily drawn toscale. Throughout this disclosure, depending on the context, singularand plural terminology may be used interchangeably.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for performing an undercarriageinspection of a vehicle with a smartphone in accordance with theprinciples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows some example components that may be included in anundercarriage inspection platform in accordance with the principles ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps for performing anundercarriage inspection of a vehicle with a smartphone in accordancewith the principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps for performing anundercarriage inspection of a self-driving vehicle with a smartphone inaccordance with the principles of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A to 5C illustrate various displays of the vehicle in accordancewith the principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps for analyzing imagedata captured by the smartphone in accordance with the principles of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Disclosed are systems and methods that allow a smartphone to be used asan imaging device for undercarriage inspection of a moving vehicle. Thesystem uses an intelligent inspection application on a smartphone tocommunicate with an intelligent application on the vehicle to conductundercarriage inspection, which involves the following tasks: thevehicle's inspection application utilizes the car's DAT sensor, e.g.,forward facing camera, to locate the smartphone on the ground, and plansa clear path towards the smartphone to display on the car'shuman-machine interface (HMI). The user/driver drives the vehicle tofollow through the path to pass over the location of the smartphone toallow the smartphone to perform the inspection. The smartphone may useits camera and the intelligent inspection application to takeundercarriage images, conduct semantic segmentation, and/or spotundercarriage problem(s). The smartphone may then transmit, e.g., beam,the information to the vehicle's HMI for the user/driver to review.

In some embodiments, the vehicle may be equipped with automated drivingfeatures, e.g., auto parking, such that the vehicle's intelligentinspection application may cause the vehicle to autonomously drivethrough the path to pass over the smartphone on the ground to conductinspection. If the vehicle's DAT sensor set is not able to located thesmartphone on the ground, the vehicle's inspection application mayrequest the smartphone to use the undercarriage picture to locate thephone's location with respect to the vehicle's path and to estimate thedesired path for the vehicle to follow. Accordingly, a user/driver witha suspicion on their vehicle's well-being may conduct this undercarriageinspection at home.

ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments of thedisclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to the exampleembodiments set forth herein. It will be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made tovarious embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. Thus, the breadth and scope of the presentdisclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exampleembodiments but should be defined only in accordance with the followingclaims and their equivalents. The description below has been presentedfor the purposes of illustration and is not intended to be exhaustive orto be limited to the precise form disclosed. It should be understoodthat alternate implementations may be used in any combination to formadditional hybrid implementations of the present disclosure. Forexample, any of the functionality described with respect to a particulardevice/component may be performed by another device/component. Further,while specific device characteristics have been described, embodimentsof the disclosure may relate to numerous other device characteristics.Further, although embodiments have been described in language specificto structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to beunderstood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited to thespecific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features andacts are disclosed as illustrative forms of implementing theembodiments.

Certain words and phrases are used herein solely for convenience andsuch words and terms should be interpreted as referring to variousobjects and actions that are generally understood in various forms andequivalencies by persons of ordinary skill in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 1, undercarriage inspection system 100 isdescribed. System 100 may include vehicle 101 and mobile device 110,communicatively coupled to undercarriage inspection platform 200 via,e.g., network 150. Network 150 may include any one, or a combination ofnetworks, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN),a telephone network, a cellular network, a cable network, a wirelessnetwork, and/or private/public networks, such as the Internet. Forexample, network 150 may support communication technologies, such asTCP/IP, Bluetooth, cellular, near-field communication (NFC), Wi-Fi,Wi-Fi direct, machine-to-machine communication, man-to-machinecommunication, and/or a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication.

Vehicle 101 may be a manually driven vehicle (e.g., no autonomy) and/orconfigured and/or programmed to operate in a fully autonomous (e.g.,driverless) mode (e.g., Level-5 autonomy) or in one or more partialautonomy modes which may include driver assist technologies. Examples ofpartial autonomy (or driver assist) modes are widely understood in theart as autonomy Levels 1 through 4. A vehicle having a Level-0autonomous automation may not include autonomous driving features. Anautonomous vehicle (AV) having Level-1 autonomy may include a singleautomated driver assistance feature, such as steering or accelerationassistance. Adaptive cruise control is one such example of a Level-1autonomous system that includes aspects of both acceleration andsteering. Level-2 autonomy in vehicles may provide partial automation ofsteering and acceleration functionality, where the automated system(s)are supervised by a human driver that performs non-automated operationssuch as braking and other controls. In some aspects, with Level-2autonomous features and greater, a primary user may control the vehiclewhile the user is inside of the vehicle, or in some example embodiments,from a location remote from the vehicle but within a control zoneextending up to several meters from the vehicle while it is in remoteoperation. Level-3 autonomy in a vehicle can provide conditionalautomation and control of driving features. For example, Level-3 vehicleautonomy typically includes “environmental detection” capabilities,where the vehicle can make informed decisions independently from apresent driver, such as accelerating past a slow-moving vehicle, whilethe present driver remains ready to retake control of the vehicle if thesystem is unable to execute the task. Level-4 autonomous vehicles canoperate independently from a human driver, but may still include humancontrols for override operation. Level-4 automation may also enable aself-driving mode to intervene responsive to a predefined conditionaltrigger, such as a road hazard or a system failure. Level-5 autonomy isassociated with autonomous vehicle systems that require no human inputfor operation, and generally do not include human operational drivingcontrols. According to embodiments of the present disclosure,undercarriage inspection platform 200 may be configured and/orprogrammed to operate with a vehicle having a Level-4 or Level-5autonomous vehicle controller.

Vehicle 101 may include one or more sensors 102, e.g., DAT sensors,forward facing camera(s), LiDAR sensors, etc., configured to detectobjects such mobile device 110, and generate data indicative of thedetection/location of mobile device 110. Moreover, vehicle 101 includesundercarriage 104, which may be visualized externally underneath vehicle101.

Undercarriage inspection platform 200 may be located on one or moreservers, e.g., on a cloud server, and/or embedded in the vehicle controlsystem of vehicle 101. Undercarriage inspection platform 200 may beaccessed via an intelligent inspection application running on either thevehicle control system of vehicle 101 or mobile device 110, or both.

Mobile device 110 may be, for example, a smartphone or a tablet.Moreover, mobile device 110 includes an image recording device, e.g.,one or more cameras. Preferably, mobile device 110 may capture highresolution imaging, e.g., at least 12 MP, operate in low lightconditions, and further may zoom in and out both optically anddigitally. Mobile device 110 may utilize its processors to process andanalyze image data captured via its one or more cameras to therebyinspect the undercarriage of vehicle 101, as described in further detailbelow. Alternatively, or additionally, mobile device 110 may execute avast array of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and/orIntegration Development Kits (IDKs) from Original EquipmentManufacturers (OEMs) to facilitate development of imaging applicationsusing the image data captured via the one or more cameras of mobiledevice 110.

Referring now to FIG. 2, components that may be included inundercarriage inspection platform 200 are described in further detail.Undercarriage inspection platform 200 may include one or more processors202, communication system 204, and memory 206. Communication system 204may include a wireless transceiver that allows undercarriage inspectionplatform 200 to communicate with vehicle 101 and mobile device 110. Thewireless transceiver may use any of various communication formats, suchas, for example, an Internet communications format, or a cellularcommunications format.

Memory 206, which is one example of a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, may be used to store operating system (OS) 218, vehicleinterface module 208, smartphone location determination module 210,vehicle path generation module 212, smartphone interface module 214, andundercarriage inspection module 216. The modules are provided in theform of computer-executable instructions that may be executed byprocessor 202 for performing various operations in accordance with thedisclosure.

Memory 206 may include any one memory element or a combination ofvolatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM,SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)) and non-volatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, harddrive, tape, CDROM, etc.). Moreover, memory 206 may incorporateelectronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Inthe context of this document, a “non-transitory computer-readablemedium” can be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,or device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: a portablecomputer diskette (magnetic), a random-access memory (RAM) (electronic),a read-only memory (ROM) (electronic), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory) (electronic), and aportable compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM) (optical). Thecomputer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable mediumupon which the program is printed, since the program can beelectronically captured, for instance, via optical scanning of the paperor other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in asuitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

Vehicle interface module 208 may be executed by processor 202 forinterfacing with an intelligent inspection application running on thevehicle control system of vehicle 101. Accordingly, the user/driver mayinteract with undercarriage inspection platform 200, e.g., provide userinput, using the intelligent inspection application running on thevehicle control system via, e.g., the HMI of vehicle 101. In addition,vehicle interface module 208 may receive data indicative of thedetection/location of mobile device 110 from one or more cameras 102 ofvehicle 101. For example, when mobile device 110 is positioned on theground in front of vehicle 101, one or more forward facing cameras ofvehicle 101 may capture image data including the location of mobiledevice 110 on the ground, which may be received by vehicle interfacemodule 208. Moreover, vehicle interface module 208 may transmit data tobe displayed on a display of the vehicle control system, e.g., the pathgenerated as described in further detail below and/or the undercarriageinspection images. For example, vehicle interface module 208 maytransmit data to the SYNC system of vehicle 101 via, e.g., Smart DeviceLink, after which the SYNC touchscreen displays the HMI for controllingthe imaging operation by the user/driver.

Smartphone location determination module 210 may be executed byprocessor 202 for determining the location of mobile device 110 relativeto vehicle 101 based on the image data received by vehicle interfacemodule 208.

Vehicle path generation module 212 may be executed by processor 202 forgenerating a path for vehicle 101 to safely drive over mobile device 110based on the location of mobile device 110 determined by smartphonelocation determination module 210. Moreover, vehicle interface module208 may transmit data indicative of the path determined by vehicle pathgeneration module 212 for display on the HMI of vehicle 101, as shown inFIG. 5A. Accordingly, the driver of vehicle 101 may drive vehicle 101 tofollow the path displayed. Vehicle path generation module 212 maycontinuously generate the path based on the location of vehicle 101 andmobile device 110, such that the data indicative of the path may betransmitted to vehicle 101 in real-time. For example, if the driverdrives vehicle 101 along a path that deviates from the determined path,vehicle path generation module 212 may generate an adjusted path for thedriver to follow in order to drive over mobile device 110. Thedetermined path further may include a recommended driving speed, suchthat the displayed data on the HMI of vehicle 101 may indicate to thedriver if the driver is driving too fast over mobile device 110, e.g.,if the speed of vehicle 101 exceeds the recommended driving speed.Accordingly, vehicle interface module 208 may receive one or moreparameters of vehicle 101 from the vehicle control system such asvelocity and/or acceleration of vehicle 101. If vehicle 101 isself-driving, vehicle interface module 208 may transmit data indicativeof the path determined by vehicle path generation module 212 to thevehicle control system of vehicle 101 such that vehicle control systemcauses vehicle 101 to self-drive to follow the path over mobile device110.

Smartphone interface module 214 may be executed by processor 202 forinterfacing with an intelligent inspection application running on mobiledevice 110. Accordingly, the user/driver may interact with undercarriageinspection platform 200, e.g., provide user input, using the intelligentinspection application running on mobile device 110. In addition,smartphone interface module 214 may receive image data from mobiledevice 110, e.g., image data indicative of undercarriage 104 of vehicle101. In addition, smartphone interface module 214 further may receiveaudio data from mobile device 110. Moreover, smartphone interface module214 may transmit a request to mobile device 110 to provide location dataof mobile device 110 relative to vehicle 101 based on image data ofundercarriage 104, e.g., when mobile device 110 is no longer detectedvia one or more sensors 102 such as well mobile device 110 is underneathvehicle 101 and out of range of sensors 102.

Undercarriage inspection module 216 may be executed by processor 202 forprocessing and analyzing the image data of undercarriage 104 of vehicle101 captured by the one or more cameras of mobile device 110, e.g., whenvehicle 101 is driven over mobile device 110. For example, undercarriageinspection module 216 may stitch the image data through keypointmatching to generate a full image of undercarriage 104. Moreover,undercarriage inspection module 216 may conduct semantic segmentation onthe image data and/or audio data of undercarriage 104, and spotundercarriage problem(s). For example, undercarriage inspection module216 may be trained with labeled examples of functional and dysfunctionalvehicle components, as well as examples of normal and dysfunctionalvehicle sounds. In some embodiments, the same network used for semanticsegmentation may also be trained with labeled examples of functional anddysfunctional vehicle components. In addition to outputting componentlabels, undercarriage inspection module 216 may output a likelihood ofdysfunction for each component. Components with high likelihoods ofdysfunction imply potential problem areas. Accordingly, vehicleinterface module 208 may transmit data indicative of the undercarriageproblem(s) to be displayed on the HMI of vehicle 101, as shown in FIGS.5B and 5C. In some embodiments, undercarriage inspection module 216 maybe executed via the processors onboard mobile device 202 via theintelligent inspection application on mobile device 110.

Referring now to FIG. 3, exemplary method 300 for performing anundercarriage inspection of vehicle 101 with mobile device 110 isprovided. Specifically, method 300 requires a driver to manually drivevehicle 100, as described in further detail below. At step 301, theuser/driver may open/initiate the intelligent inspection application onmobile device 110. At step 302, the user may place mobile device 110 onthe ground, e.g., in front of vehicle 101, such that mobile device 110is in range of one or more sensors 102 of vehicle 101. At step 303, theuser may turn on vehicle 101. At step 304, the user may open/initiatethe intelligent inspection application on vehicle 101, e.g., on the SYNCscreen of vehicle 101 via the HMI. At step 305, mobile device 110 mayconnect/pair with vehicle 101, e.g., over network 150. Accordingly, atstep 306, vehicle 101 may connect/pair with mobile device 110, e.g.,over network 150.

At step 307, vehicle 101 may locate mobile device 110 using one or morecameras 102 of vehicle 101. As described above, smartphone locationdetermination module 210 may determine the location of mobile device 110based on the data received by vehicle interface module 208 from cameras102. At step 308, vehicle path generation module 212 may generate a pathfor vehicle 101 to follow to drive over mobile device 110. The path maybe displayed on the SYNC screen of vehicle 101 via the HMI, as shown inFIG. 5A. At step 309, the user/driver may drive vehicle 101 to followthe path, e.g., as indicated by the SYNC screen of vehicle 101. At step310, the driver may continue driving vehicle 101 over mobile device 110.As described above, the path displayed may be adjusted if the driverdrives vehicle 101 on a deviated path, so that the driver may follow theadjusted path to sufficiently drive over mobile device 110. Moreover,information may be displayed to the driver indicating whether the driveris driving vehicle 101, e.g., too fast, so that the driver may drivevehicle 101 at the appropriate speed over mobile device 110.

At step 311, undercarriage inspection platform 200 determines whethermobile device 110 is still within the sensor sight of vehicle 101, e.g.,within the range of one or more sensors 102. If it is determined thatmobile device 110 is still within the sensor sight of vehicle 101, thedriver may continue to drive vehicle 101 at step 310. If it isdetermined that mobile device 110 is no longer within the sensor sightof vehicle 101, at step 312, vehicle 101 may transmit a request tomobile device 110 for location data of mobile device 110 relative tovehicle 101, e.g., based on image data of undercarriage 104 captured bythe one or more cameras of mobile device 110 while vehicle 101 is overmobile device 110. At step 313, mobile device 110 may transmit thelocation data to vehicle 101 as requested. At step 314, vehicle pathgeneration module 212 may generate an extended path for the driver ofvehicle 101 to follow based on the location data of mobile device 110.The extended path is also displayed on the HMI of vehicle 101.

At step 315, mobile device 110 may conduct inspection and analysis ofthe image data captured by the one or more cameras of mobile device 110.For example, undercarriage inspection module 216 may conduct, e.g.,semantic segmentation to spot undercarriage problem(s). At step 316,mobile device 110 may continue to conduct inspection and analysis of theimage data. At step 317, undercarriage inspection platform 200determines whether vehicle 101 has completely driven over mobile device110, e.g., if the cameras of mobile device 110 identifies the rear endof vehicle 101. If the rear end of vehicle 101 is not yet seen by thecameras of mobile device 110, the inspection and analysis of the imagedata captured by mobile device 110 continues at step 316. If the rearend of vehicle 101 is seen/detected by the cameras of mobile device 110,at step 318, mobile device 110 may transmit a termination signal tovehicle 101.

The driver of vehicle 101 may continue driving at step 319 until thetermination signal is received by vehicle 101. At step 320,undercarriage inspection platform 200 may determine whether vehicle 101has received the termination signal from mobile device 110. If thetermination signal has not been received by vehicle 101, the driver maycontinue driving vehicle 101 at step 319. If the termination signal hasbeen received by vehicle 101, a notification may be displayed on the HMIof vehicle 101, such that the driver may see the notification and stopdriving vehicle 101 at step 321.

At step 322, mobile device 110 may transmit the analyzed image data ofundercarriage 104 to vehicle 101, e.g., by beaming the analyzed imagedata to vehicle 101, for display. At step 323, vehicle 101 may receivethe analyzed image data from mobile device 110, and display the data,e.g., via the HMI of the SYNC screen, as shown in FIG. 5B.Alternatively, or additionally, the analyzed image data may be displayedon mobile device 110. At step 324, the HMI of vehicle 101 may prompt theuser/driver to select or confirm problems detected of undercarriage 104as displayed. The user/driver may select/confirm the problems via HMI asshown in FIG. 5C. At step 325, the HMI of vehicle 101 may ask theuser/driver whether the user/driver wants to save the analyzed imagedata and/or transmit the data to an inspection professional, e.g., thedealership. At step 326, the user/driver may exit vehicle 101, and pickup mobile device 110 from the ground at step 327. At step 328, theundercarriage inspection cycle is complete.

Referring now to FIG. 4, exemplary method 400 for performing anundercarriage inspection of self-driving vehicle 101 with mobile device110 is provided. Method 400 is substantially similar to method 300,except that vehicle 101 is capable of driving itself to follow the pathdetermined by vehicle path generation module 212, and does not require adriver. Specifically, at step 408, vehicle path generation module 212may plan the path for vehicle 101 to follow to drive over mobile device110. The plan need not be displayed on the HMI of vehicle 101. At step409, the automatic driving function of vehicle 101 may be activated todrive vehicle 101 to follow the path over mobile device 110. At step410, vehicle 101 may continue driving along the path until mobile device110 is no longer in the sensor sight of vehicle 101.

Moreover, at step 419, vehicle 101 may continue driving itself at step419 until vehicle 101 receives the termination signal from mobile device110 at step 420. Upon receipt of the termination signal, at step 421,vehicle 101 may stop the automated driving function and stop driving.

Referring now to FIG. 6, exemplary method 600 for analyzing image datacaptured by mobile device 110 is described. During the image collectionphase of the undercarriage inspection cycle, at step 601, vehicle 101moves to a first position (via either manual driving or self-drive) to astarting position as designated via the HMI of the SYNC screen, and asconfirmed via vehicle positioning sensors. At step 602, vehicle 101beings to drive (via either manual driving, e.g., driver assist, orself-drive, e.g., autonomous) along the determined path over mobiledevice 110, preferably within a suggested speed, e.g., a low speed. Atstep 603, image data, e.g., video data, is captured by mobile device 110as describe above, and processed, e.g., stitched through keypointmatching to generate a full image of undercarriage 104.

Next, during the image segmentation phase of the undercarriageinspection cycle, at step 604, the initial images captured by mobiledevice 110 may be converted to grayscale, e.g., by undercarriageinspection module 216. At step 605, initial homogenous regions, e.g.,regions defined as not similar to spatially adjacent regions, in theimage may be identified to provide topological context. At step 606,undercarriage inspection module 216 may perform recursive sequencing togenerate semantic segmentation of finer scale objects within the imagedata.

Finally, during the image analysis phase of the undercarriage inspectioncycle, at step 607, hierarchically scaled images may be evaluated inorder of coarse to fine scale. At step 608, the images may be comparedwith pre-scanned 3D images/models of a healthy undercarriage, which hasbeen sliced and segmented, to detect problems/damages to undercarriage104. At step 609, data indicative of the detection of problems/damagesto undercarriage 104 may be transmitted to vehicle 101 for display. Forexample, the full image of undercarriage 104 may be displayed withtrouble spots highlighted as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C.

In the above disclosure, reference has been made to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part hereof, which illustrate specificimplementations in which the present disclosure may be practiced. It isunderstood that other implementations may be utilized, and structuralchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “an example embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, one skilled in the art willrecognize such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection withother embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

Implementations of the systems, apparatuses, devices, and methodsdisclosed herein may comprise or utilize one or more devices thatinclude hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors andsystem memory, as discussed herein. An implementation of the devices,systems, and methods disclosed herein may communicate over a computernetwork. A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enablethe transport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modulesand/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or any combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmissionmedium. Transmission media can include a network and/or data links,which can be used to carry desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Combinationsof the above should also be included within the scope of non-transitorycomputer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at a processor, cause the processor to performa certain function or group of functions. The computer-executableinstructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate formatinstructions, such as assembly language, or even source code. Althoughthe subject matter has been described in language specific to structuralfeatures and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that thesubject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limitedto the described features or acts described above. Rather, the describedfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure maybe practiced in network computing environments with many types ofcomputer system configurations, including in-dash vehicle computers,personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, messageprocessors, handheld devices, multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, tablets,pagers, routers, switches, various storage devices, and the like. Thedisclosure may also be practiced in distributed system environmentswhere local and remote computer systems, which are linked (either byhardwired data links, and/or wireless data links) through a network,both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modulesmay be located in both the local and remote memory storage devices.

Further, where appropriate, the functions described herein may beperformed in one or more of hardware, software, firmware, digitalcomponents, or analog components. For example, one or more applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs) may be programmed to carry out oneor more of the systems and procedures described herein. Certain termsare used throughout the description, and claims refer to particularsystem components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, componentsmay be referred to by different names. This document does not intend todistinguish between components that differ in name, but not function.

At least some embodiments of the present disclosure have been directedto computer program products comprising such logic (e.g., in the form ofsoftware) stored on any computer-usable medium. Such software, whenexecuted in one or more data processing devices, causes a device tooperate as described herein.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilledin the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure shouldnot be limited by any of the above-described example embodiments butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents. The foregoing description has been presented for thepurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the precise formdisclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light ofthe above teaching. Further, it should be noted that any or all of theaforementioned alternate implementations may be used in any combinationdesired to form additional hybrid implementations of the presentdisclosure. For example, any of the functionality described with respectto a particular device or component may be performed by another deviceor component. Further, while specific device characteristics have beendescribed, embodiments of the disclosure may relate to numerous otherdevice characteristics. Further, although embodiments have beendescribed in language specific to structural features and/ormethodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather,the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms ofimplementing the embodiments. Conditional language, such as, amongothers, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically statedotherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, isgenerally intended to convey that certain embodiments could include,while other embodiments may not include, certain features, elements,and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intendedto imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way requiredfor one or more embodiments.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for performing an inspection of anundercarriage of a vehicle with a smartphone, the method comprising:locating the smartphone on a surface via one or more sensors of thevehicle; generating, based on the locating of the smartphone, a path forthe vehicle to drive over the smartphone; driving the vehicle to followthe path; receiving image data indicative of the undercarriage of thevehicle from the smartphone; and displaying the image data to facilitateundercarriage inspection of the vehicle.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein driving the vehicle to follow the path comprises manuallydriving the vehicle by a driver of the vehicle.
 3. The method of claim2, further comprising displaying the path on a display of the vehicle tofacilitate manual driving of the vehicle by the driver.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein driving the vehicle to follow the path comprisesautomatically driving the vehicle.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereindisplaying the image data comprises displaying the image data on adisplay of the vehicle.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying theimage data comprises displaying the image data on a display of thesmartphone.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising positioning thesmartphone on the ground.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingoperatively coupling the vehicle to the smartphone.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: requesting location data of the smartphonewhen the smartphone is out of range of the one or more sensors of thevehicle; and adjusting the path based on the location data of thesmartphone.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing theimage data indicative of the undercarriage of the vehicle to identifyone or more issues of the undercarriage.
 11. The method of claim 10,further comprising receiving the data indicative of the one or moreissues of the undercarriage from the smartphone.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein displaying the image data to facilitate undercarriageinspection of the vehicle comprises displaying the data indicative ofthe one or more issues of the undercarriage.
 13. The method of claim 1,further comprising transmitting the image data indicative of theundercarriage of the vehicle to an inspection professional.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a termination signalfrom the smartphone when the image data received from the smartphoneindicates that the vehicle is past the smartphone; and stopping thevehicle.
 15. A system for performing an inspection of an undercarriageof a vehicle with a smartphone, the system comprising: one or moresensors operatively coupled to the vehicle, the one or more sensorsconfigured to detect the smartphone and generate data indicative of thedetection of the smartphone; a memory that stores computer-executableinstructions; and a processor configured to access the memory andexecute the computer-executable instructions to: locate the smartphoneon a ground based on the data indicative of the detection of thesmartphone; generating, based on the locating of the smartphone, a pathfor the vehicle to drive over the smartphone; receive image dataindicative of the undercarriage of the vehicle from the smartphone; andcause a display to display the image data indicative of theundercarriage of the vehicle.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein theimage data indicative of the undercarriage of the vehicle received fromthe smartphone comprises analyzed data indicative of one or more issuesof the undercarriage.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processoris further configured to cause a display of the vehicle to display theimage data indicative of the undercarriage of the vehicle.
 18. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to causethe vehicle to drive to follow the path.
 19. The system of claim 15,wherein the processor is further configured to: request location data ofthe smartphone when the smartphone is out of range of the one or moresensors of the vehicle; and adjust the path based on the location dataof the smartphone.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor isfurther configured to transmit the image data indicative of theundercarriage of the vehicle to an inspection professional.